The Little World

I set myself the task of building Israeli aircraft for a desert museum airfield – this kit was sitting on the shelves of a specialist dealer when I went to look for decals.

How could I resist? It shows a horrible modification of a beautiful aircraft on the box top…but the sides promise the original shape and colouration. The sprue trees contain many options – it is one of those kits where the maker tries to catch a lot of pennies. The only real restriction comes with a small decal sheet.

I looked at the sprue trees – good for the most part with only hidden ejector marks and little flash. There are resin parts, but as most of them are for the awful recon version, I need not use them. There is a resin seat that looks nice. No PE.

The decal sheet allows for a basic Mirage as well as the recon ones – unfortunately not as far back as the bare-metal version. But there are enough Hebrew stencils to cross a rabbi’s eyes. And they all look good. Please Heaven they are strong enough to release easily.

The instructions already show some discrepancy between what exists and what is depicted…fortunately there are enough Mirage IIIC planes still in existence in museums to allow for some reality. I realise there is a disconnect between the factory moulding floor and the drawing office…